The Heart of our Father

The Poor One of Nazareth was like a shepherd, this is how he spoke to the villagers:

“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?” That carnal law has outlived its usefulness. What satisfaction is there in loving the loveable and hating the disagreeable? The Gentiles do that. What is monstrous is that our lawmakers have transferred that savage law into the heart of our Father.”

“And so, they have always painted God with eyes blazing with anger and violence, shooting thunderbolts in order to reduce the poor sinners to ashes. That is not the truth. To the contrary, the Father leaves the entire flock to go through narrow passes bordered by precipices; He peers into the abyss and climbs steep, rocky heights in search of the lost sheep.”

“When he finds it, he does not whip it, rather, he takes her on his shoulders with infinite tenderness, and he returns home happy, singing and saying that that soul gave him more joy than the whole world. Instead of rejecting and condemning, the Father runs and eagerly seeks precisely the wounded, sick sheep, harassed by the wolf...”

“I do not know how else to tell you... The Father is like that.”

Extracted from the book “The Poor one of Nazareth” by Fr. Ignacio Larrañaga